Denial

Looks pretty impressive

How do you know that is the final version? It's missing the animations on the intro sequence for starters...

The file I was sent was titled 'Arukanoido full preview' so maybe no, not the final version. My mistake.
It has the fast loader .tap, the hardware check, an intro screen when you start and all 33 playable levels.

There are still a few bugs to iron out.
My son got to level 28 when it failed to give him a ball after he lost a life (gutted).

Disregarding the choppy youtube framerate, it looks and sounds amazing. I love how the MC and hi-res graphics blend perfectly in style. Too often they clash pretty badly (i.e. style-wise, not by char sharing) both on VIC and C64.

I was a little zoned out and passed on a version with all levels to some people for no particular reason. Perhaps a bit of remorse. It's absolutely not the final version. Dad suggested I'd better grow a set of balls and get it finished before he checks out. Deadlines cannot get worse. Don't worry we both have a grim sense of humour.

pixel wrote:... Dad suggested I'd better grow a set of balls and get it finished before he checks out. Deadlines cannot get worse. Don't worry we both have a grim sense of humour.

The pressure always feels more intense when it comes from the family.

Best Christmas wishes to you and your dad, Pixel!

The game looks amazing. It has that sharp and polished arcade quality about it - a quality that is so hard to get on a Vic, but the combination of hires and multi color works wonders here. Likewise, Beamrider certainly has a special knack for getting arcade-like jingles out of the Vic chip!

It'll certainly be something to treasure whenever you finish it

Merry Xmax!

Updated the demo version.

* Like in the arcade the ball now reflects from the corner of a brick in the opposite direction.
* Hopefully better tuned maximum ball speed for joystick users. In some levels hitting the top will give you extra trouble. Very much in the spirit of the original and closer to the paddle mode.
* Many bug fixes.

You should not try to collect the multi-ball disruption whilst firing a laser. (One might think that there'd be an easy fix but that's not the case.)

Also included again is the CPU monitor version for PAL where you can roughly see how much CPU time is being used for what in the border. (The NTSC version is not in sync with the framerate, so that would only give you a terrible flicker.)

* cyan: game logic
* purple: drawing sprites
* white: clearing sprites

Now THIS is a Christmas gift - thank you Pixel, and best wishes to your daddy and to you .

Met a cartridge fairy at the end of the rainbow over the Xmas celebrations and those horrifying courtesy visits who made it clear to me that there'll be cartridges. Not my idea and she doesn't want her name out. PAL and NTSC versions got merged accordingly. One can switch between portrait and landscape screen. That's why I'm walking around with a fly swatter. "BUGS EVERYWHERE!!!1! *splat!*". So, no demo yet.

The c2nwarp does a good job, so no PAL or NTSC problems there either.

I guess a cart won't make it across below €30 with all safety margins. Pre-orders welcome.

pixel wrote:there'll be cartridges.

YYEESSSS!!!

( count this as pre-order. 2 cartridges. )

Mike wrote:

pixel wrote:there'll be cartridges.

YYEESSSS!!!

( count this as pre-order. 2 cartridges. )

Excellent choice, Sir. Comes gold-plated with battery-powered RAM. And as far as I figured the thing even plays well with a 4kHz sample player in the back.

1 x Pre-order

I take one....

HoP

I'll take 1, too